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Plague 12.5
|previous=Plague 12.4 |next=Plague 12.6 }} is the fifth chapter of Plague. Taylor races to reach her dad before Shatterbird sings, alerting as many people as possible. Plot As she is running from the parking garage, Jack, Bonesaw and Cherish remain within Skitter's range. She debates the possibility of trying to kill them with a swarm of bugs but she would be unable to do anything to The Siberian and Bonesaw's medical abilities make it far less certain that she would succeed in killing the three vulnerable members. Despite knowing Siberian would kill her, Skitter finds herself hoping that if only her own life was on the line she would still try it. This leads into a wider ethical debate about trading ten lives for the potentially billions that could be lost if Dinah's prophecy about Jack Slash is correct. Skitter notes that when the ten lives include everyone she cares about the decision becomes a lot less black and white. She decides that since there will be the chance for the teams to fight the Slaughterhouse Nine later when they are more prepared, it is not worth throwing all the lives away just for a chance of success. She then worries that the decision might have been influenced by her reluctance to kill a man, despite the fact that her actions in the past have lead to deaths and she has knowingly left people to die. Skitter passes through an area pull of apartment blocks and begins to use bugs to wake people up and spell out warnings of the impending attack. She calls up Sierra, who is taking a night off to visit Bryce and her parents in the hospital. She informs Sierra of the attack and orders her to warn those in the hospital. Immediately after hanging up she calls Charlotte, instructing her to tell people in the territory and make sure those people try to pass the message on to as many other people as possible. Skitter muses on the extreme multi-tasking abilities she has and concludes they must be a secondary effect of her power. She also notices her power's range extending steadily. Skitter's journey is delayed by several minutes by metal fences that she has to climb over, and after checking her phone she concludes that she does not have the time to make it to the house in person, leaving her only the option of using her power to save her dad. Refusing to watch the time tick down on her phone any more, she discards it to be pushed into a storm drain by bugs, also removing the danger that carrying the phone will be when Shatterbird "sings". She manages to get close enough to the house for her power to be in range, but she begins to sense the sound of the glass being influenced by Shatterbird. With no time to wake her dad and convey to him that he needs to take cover, she makes do with tipping over his alarm clock just as the attack hits. Glass all across the city is shattered and Skitter observes the sand at the beaches rising into a massive cloud. Having successfully sheltered herself from the blast, she dashes to the kitchen door at the back of her house, removing her mask and peeling down her low costume. Entering her dad's bedroom she sees that the side and back of his head have been lacerated, and upon further inspection finds glass has stabbed the back of his upper body. She concludes that there doesn't seem to be any immediately lethal or obviously severe damage and urges him to stay still until the time comes to move him to hospital. As Taylor searches for his sandals with her power she detects two men in the house. The men walk upstairs to Danny's bedroom, but when Taylor moves to potentially ambush them she realises they are paramedics. Despite the obviously planned nature of this arrival, Taylor rules out the Slaughterhouse Nine and the Merchants as the parties behind it and also discards Fenrir's Chosen when she sees a black paramedic waiting down the street. As Danny is loaded into the ambulance, one of the paramedics takes Taylor aside and hands over the pieces of her costume that she had let fall in the floor as the hastily ran for the house, revealing their employer as Coil and explaining that her teammates directed them to the house. The paramedic also passes on a message from Coil encouraging Skitter to return to attend her territory rather than remaining with her dad. Taylor kisses her dad goodbye despite his pleas for her to stay. The paramedic promises they will provide him the best care they can and that they can tell him they aren't allowing ride-alongs if he questions her leaving. Mentally cursing the circumstances and all those who have lead to it, including herself, Skitter turns away from the ambulance. Major Events *Shatterbird 'singing' devestates the already devestated city. **The relativly small amount of 'death terror' alerted Cherish that something is wrong.More that Cherish maybe remarked "Huh, that's probably one of your lower kill counts, Shatterbird." "Why?" "The Worm," Cherish replies, pointing in a direction. Jack looks to Mannequin, who leaves without a word. - Elaboration by Wildbow on Sufficient Velocity *Taylor reascues her dad. Even though she removed her costume when she confronted him face to face it is possible that he deduces her Cape identity from this. Characters *Taylor *Danny Hebert Skitter's Employees *Sierra *Charlotte Civilians *Forrest Site Navigation Category:Chapters